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Lackey loses no-hitter in ninth as Angels beat Red Sox

Jul 30, 2008 - 3:21 AM By Tony Lee PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- It's hard to imagine a day going any better than Tuesday did for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Hours after they bolstered their lineup by trading for slugger Mark Teixeira, the surging Angels saw ace John Lackey take a no-hitter into the ninth inning before settling for a 6-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Lackey (9-2), who entered 1-4 with a 7.46 ERA in his career at Fenway Park, saw his bid for the franchise's first official no-hitter since Mark Langston and Mike Witt combined for one on April 11, 1990, end when Dustin Pedroia grounded a single into left field with one out in the ninth.

Kevin Youkilis followed with a two-run homer to spoil the shutout, but Lackey was able to finish his second complete game of the year.

"I just wanted to win the game," Lackey said. "The no-hitter would have been nice, whatever, but we're about winning games."

And they've been winning plenty of late. The Angels have taken 11 of 13 overall and seven straight against the defending World Series champs, who knocked Los Angeles out of the playoffs in the first round last season.

With Lackey back on track and Teixeira in the fold, the Angels appear primed for a longer run in 2008. But they're not getting ahead of themselves.

"There's a lot of good things we're going to take away from (Lackey's performance)," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "Teixeira, we'll move forward with that one, but right now we're just happy to get another win here tonight and looking forward to putting what we hope is a real strong lineup together tomorrow."

The 28-year-old Teixeira, who had 20 home runs and 78 RBI for Atlanta, was acquired in exchange for first baseman Casey Kotchman and a minor leaguer about an hour before Lackey's masterpiece began. He was not with the Angels for the game, missing a dominant first eight innings by Lackey.

The 29-year-old righthander hit one batter and walked another before the ninth, but neither advanced past first base. He recorded his fourth and final strikeout to start the ninth when he got rookie Jacoby Ellsbury swinging.

After seeing his staff leader struggle by giving up 20 runs in 23 2/3 innings this month, Scioscia was pleased with a return to form.

"You can't get a better pitched game than that, for sure," Scioscia said. "Unfortunately in the ninth inning he couldn't quite finish off a no-hitter or a shutout, but against that lineup, to pitch that well and that deep into the game, that's a great game by John Lackey."

Fourteen outs were recorded in the air by Lackey, including a drive off the bat of David Ortiz to start the seventh that right fielder Vladimir Guerrero tracked down on the warning track.

Pedroia's single got past the dive of shortstop Maicer Izturis. Youkilis followed two pitches later with his 18th homer over the "Green Monster" in left field, giving the home fans life.

"Until the very end, we had nothing," Boston manager Terry Francona said.

The Red Sox (61-47) lost for the fourth time in five games - all at home - and fell two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays (62-44) in the American League East Division.

An error, three singles and a walk helped the Angels take a 2-0 lead in the third. Red Sox rookie starter Clay Buchholz walked Izturis with the bases loaded for the second run.

Torii Hunter led off the fourth with a single and Garret Anderson followed with a two-run blast to right for his 10th, giving Lackey plenty of support.

Buchholz (2-6) continued to struggle since his recall from the minors earlier this month. He gave up all six runs - five earned - and six hits over 6 1/3 innings, fanning five and walking three. The 23-year-old is winless in his last six starts, but may have gleaned a lesson or two from his counterpart.

"It shows you how really tough it is to do," Buchholz said of Lackey's no-hit bid. "He had everything working tonight and the two hits that we got were pretty clutch hits because everybody's nervous and knows what's going on. Hats off to him for a great game tonight.

"Would have been a lot more fun to watch if it was one of us doing it."

Buchholz threw a no-hitter last September in his second career start for Boston.